The invention relates generally to electrical connectors, and more particularly to electrical connectors with mechanisms for at least one of aligning and retaining mating contacts in a board-to-board electrical connection.
Surface mount technologies, such as land-grid array (LGA) assemblies and ball-grid array (BGA) assemblies, involve mounting an electronic module onto a printed circuit board (PCB). For example, in an LGA assembly, the module is mounted onto an interposer, which, in turn, is mounted onto a PCB. The module and the PCB each have mating contacts along their respective surfaces that mate with the interposer, and the interposer has conductive pathways that electrically couple the mating contacts of the module to corresponding mating contacts of the PCB. In some conventional LGA assemblies, the modules include pins that extend outwardly away from the module. When the module is mounted onto the interposer, the pins are inserted through holes in the interposer and then into holes in the PCB. In other embodiments, the interposer or the PCB includes pins that are inserted into corresponding holes of the module.
However, the pins, interposer, and/or PCB are typically constructed from a rigid material. If the dimensions or locations of the holes are not precisely manufactured to specification, the components may be unable to mate with each other or may not be properly aligned when mated. Furthermore, forcing the pins into corresponding holes when not properly aligned may damage the components.
Accordingly, there is a need for a connector or connector assembly where an electronic module may be properly aligned and mounted onto an interposer. Furthermore, there is a need for alternative methods and features that facilitate aligning and mounting the components of a connector assembly.